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Game Night: Pens & Sens set for Round 2 |
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Game Night: Pens and Sens set to do battle in Eastern Conference Semifinals
Coach Dan Bylsma expects Consol Energy Center to be rocking when the Penguins open their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals matchup Tuesday night at 7:30 pm ET against the Ottawa Senators.
“You know how it’s going to be in our building,” Bylsma said. “It’s been pretty impressive how much emotion has been in our building to start games.”
Pittsburgh is coming off a hard-fought series win against the New York Islanders and Bylsma believes that will benefit his squad going forward.
“Winning four games added a lot to our team,” the Penguins coach noted. “We learned some things about our team. The biggest thing is we won four games. We got this thing from 30 teams to 16 to now we’re down to eight. We’re moving on, for four more wins.”
The Penguins are wary of Ottawa’s team play.
“The Sens play a very good structured game, work game,” Bylsma noted. “It’s not just a skilled team, they play really well on both sides of the puck. Combine that with the goaltender, Craig Anderson, and you’ve got a formidable team.”
One of the biggest storylines of the series focuses on Sens’ defenseman, Erik Karlsson. Karlsson missed a significant portion of the regular season (31 games) with a torn Achilles tendon. He suffered the injury in Pittsburgh on Feb. 13, when Penguins forward Matt Cooke jostled with Karlsson along the boards for possession of a loose puck.
Fortunately, he returned in late April and recorded four assists in the last three regular season contests. Against Montreal in Round 1, Karlsson netted one goal and six points in the five-game series win.
Bylsma knows his team has its work cut out for it against the Ottawa defender.
“He’s a dangerous player, he’s got speed, agility. (Karlsson) has a high I.Q. offensively, he can spin on you, make passes, big shot, factor on the power play. When We’re forechecking and playing in the offensive zone, we’ve got to make sure he’s playing defense, going back for pucks, as well.”
Penguins captain, Sidney Crosby, doesn’t believe there will be much carry-over from Senators players on the ice directed toward Cooke.
“There’s always storylines,” said Crosby. “There will be something else after Game 1.”
One of the other big questions surrounding the Round 2 matchup is the naming of a goalie for Pittsburgh.
Crosby politely deferred on the matter.
“I’m not going to start making coaching decisions,” he noted. “We have confidence with both guys. It’s not up to me to decide.”
The team captain did give input on the shield he’s been wearing since he returned to the lineup.
“It’ll be nice to get it off at some point,” Crosby said. “Whether it’s day-to-day or week-to-week.” Crosby said that the face shield doesn’t hinder his ability to take faceoffs, but said that it can be difficult receiving hard passes in the feet.
Crosby missed the first game of the playoffs, but finished with three goals and nine points in five contests against the Islanders.
As previously mentioned, Pittsburgh will need to pick a netminder for Game 1 and beyond. Both Marc-Andre Fleury and Tomas Vokoun said all of the right things when asked who should play against Ottawa.
“I want this team to win, bottom line,” Fleury said. “We all want to play. We’ve been winning, that’s all that matters.”
Fleury was pulled after New York scored six goals in Game 4 to even the series at two games apiece. Since then, Vokoun has taken over and stopped 66 of 69 shots, including 31 in a Game 5 shutout.
Vokoun was quick to avoid sparking a goaltender controversy.
“That’s why we have coaches,” the 36-year-old veteran noted. “I’m here to help the team. Either way, if it’s helping guys not playing, or playing to win the games.”
Though his wording might be a little cloudy, his message putting the team first is 100 percent clear.
Both the Penguins and Senators will look to establish their games Tuesday night at Consol. Keeping emotions in check will play a large role in which team comes out on top, something that coach Bylsma knows all too well.
“The emotional level and control level in playoff games is a big factor,” Bylsma said. “When James Neal gets inserted into the lineup after missing some time, he’s so amped up he goes out on the first couple shifts and takes a penalty against the Islanders. He took an errant stick to the face, but the refs didn’t see it. He turned around, gave the guy a shove and ended up in the penalty box. That emotion is a big part of playoff hockey. Control is a big factor for both teams. It’s a big part of playoff hockey.”
Game 1 will help set the tone for the entire series. Pittsburgh won all three games in the regular season against Ottawa, but both teams are healthier now than ever before.
Undoubtedly, there will be plenty of new storylines and perhaps a few sideshows, but one thing’s for sure – it’s all about the Cup.
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Hockey Poll Results
Question: Who should start in goal in Game 1 for the Pens against Ottawa?
As we now know, Tomas Vokoun will get the nod for the first game. If you’re one of the 61 percent who voted for Vokoun, give yourself a pat on the back. Nineteen percent believed that Marc-Andre Fleury would start. The Flower will almost surely be back between the pipes at some point, but the team is riding its hot hand right now.
Fourteen percent said that it didn’t matter which goalie started for Pittsburgh because the Sens are going to win, regardless. I figured that this was a good way to weed out the voting and the trolls from Ottawa – you can thank me later. Only four percent said that the Pens will win the series regardless of whichever goalie they go with and surprisingly, I might actually go with that vote. I think that the time off will help Fleury whenever he comes back. Both netminders have strong numbers against Ottawa.
As always, thanks for voting.
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